Manufacturing

US-based start-up, Siva Power formerly Solexant, has reported a CIGS cell efficiency of 18.8% that it claims was verified by NREL in December 2013.

The latest solar trade case brought in the US could see American companies produce “Chinese” solar products, if the petitioner SolarWorld’s terms were met, according to a lawyer representing Chinese PV manufacturers.

Roth & Rau, a subsidiary of Meyer Burger, reported a 50% drop in revenue for 2013 compared to the previous year, with increased losses.

Robert Bosch subsidiary, PV module manufacturer aleo solar is to be acquired by Taiwan-based solar cell producer, Sunrise Global Solar Energy and Japanese manufacturing machinery producer, CHOSHU Industry.

SunEdison and the Government of Saudi Arabia are undertaking a feasibility study to establish a fully integrated PV manufacturing complex, including polysilicon production through to PV module assembly at an estimated cost of US$6.4 billion.

The programme has been repeatedly successful and director general Arun Kumar has said it will now run every month.

Equipment suppliers serving the PV manufacturing sector are expected to see a new cycle of capital expenditure begin early next year that could reach US$10 billion by 2017, according to NPD Solarbuzz.

Daqo New Energy has completed the de-bottlenecking project at its polysilicon plant in Xinjiang, China, which has started ramping to its expected nameplate capacity of 6,150MT.

Tokyo Electron (TEL) has announced plans to discontinue its ‘micromorph’ turnkey thin-film production line operations, which it acquired after buying Oerlikon Solar in 2012.

New figures highlight the contrasting fortunes of the solar energy sector in Germany and the US.